Paradigm Shift - Ride the brakes

[callawassie]

I remember my days of being employed, when the term "paradigm shift" was the "in" phrase.

OK, something similar with the FFH.

 

All my years, I have been told to not ride the brakes, i.e., have your foot on the brake pedal as you were coasting to a stop. Wear out the brake pads, decrease mileage, etc, etc.

Here comes the paradigm shift:

 

Where I live, there are many secondary roads, meaning speed limit is 45 or 55 mph, with a stop light every mile or more. Old habits said when you saw the light up ahead was red, foot off the gas and coast on in, saving gas, right?

 

New habit: foot off the gas, see that car has gone into EV mode, so engine is not running. Apply light brake pressure to contine to decelerate, and use the regenerative braking to charge up the battery! Then, depending upon traffic and speed, you can take off again, maybe turning into the grocery store, using only the battery!

[rpreuss]

New habit: foot off the gas, see that car has gone into EV mode, so engine is not running. Apply light brake pressure to contine to decelerate, and use the regenerative braking to charge up the battery! Then, depending upon traffic and speed, you can take off again, maybe turning into the grocery store, using only the battery!

 

Absolutely!! And try not to come to a complete stop. If you are still rolling when the light turns green or the traffic starts to move, you still have forward momentum. You can slightly increase your "throttle" (But it isn't called that on a FFH) and keep in EV mode, rather than having the ICE start.

 

Wow! I love driving these things. And up until 3 weeks ago, I was a Lead Foot Explorer owner. My record, for a 2.5 mile trip from the mall to home was 78.8 MPG!! Almost completely in EV mode!!

 

Disclaimer - This is not my normal MPG. Avg is about 39 overall.

[Oman]

There is regenerative braking occurring when you have your foot off the gas, or more specifically the FFH simulates "engine braking" which is just a semantic difference. The point is that the battery is charging in both cases. The advantage however is that you are doing a bit more to a) stop consuming power faster and b)letting the people behind you know when you are actually braking.

 

Jon

 

 

Absolutely!! And try not to come to a complete stop. If you are still rolling when the light turns green or the traffic starts to move, you still have forward momentum. You can slightly increase your "throttle" (But it isn't called that on a FFH) and keep in EV mode, rather than having the ICE start.

 

Wow! I love driving these things. And up until 3 weeks ago, I was a Lead Foot Explorer owner. My record, for a 2.5 mile trip from the mall to home was 78.8 MPG!! Almost completely in EV mode!!

 

Disclaimer - This is not my normal MPG. Avg is about 39 overall.

[Grey]

Regenerative braking is a great feature. In an ICE only environment, brakes are the enemy of fuel economy. The energy dissapated as friction/heat when you apply conventional brake systems, is converted to battery storage power in the FFH. Brilliant. :happy feet: :happy feet:

[Scott A320]

AFAIK slight depression to the brake pedal activates regeneration; greater effort triggers the 4-wheel discs.

It would appear the system is so seamless it's difficult to determine precisely the transition point!

Good job Ford!

[Oman]

Something to have fun with: Ford is rightfully proud of their regen/braking system on the FFH. They have created a highly efficient and nearly perfect simulation of the existing hydraulic power braking system that feels just like it "should" and provides top of class braking. For this to happen the car has to seamlessly move from traction motor braking to 4 wheel disc without the driver even knowing it happened. For the car to do this it has to "learn" just how much friction is generated in the brakes for a given amount of pressure on the pads and this can change over time and with conditions.

 

One of the things that causes the friction to change the most is water. You can play with the car a bit after getting of a good rain. If the car sits long enough after a driving in the rain the discs will get a thin layer of rust on them. This will greatly increase the friction over what the car last experienced, which was wet braking. If you carefully pull the car out after sitting for a while after a rain, the first time the brakes are used can be pretty jarring. Back the car out and don't use the brakes in D until you come to a stop sign. Make sure you were doing at least 20mph. The car will use regenerative braking until about 7mph then it will switch to friction. Because the car last had to use quite a bit of pressure on the friction brakes to stop it will use the same pressure again. Likely you will feel a significant "slam" on the brakes as you stop. The next time the car comes to a stop it will be much smoother, and the next time even smoother.

 

PS: Until you get down to something like 75% of the pedal travel all the resistance you are feeling is simulated by the braking system. You are not activating the hydraulics at all directly. At the end of the travel you are directly compressing brake fluid (I think in the US this is still the law)

 

 

 

Jon

 

 

 

AFAIK slight depression to the brake pedal activates regeneration; greater effort triggers the 4-wheel discs.

It would appear the system is so seamless it's difficult to determine precisely the transition point!

Good job Ford!

[rpreuss]

Jon,

 

I found this "feature" too. I just assumed it was the brakes grabbing at the last minute because they were wet. Even a very damp morning will produce it.

 

But what amazed me was I did not feel the transation until the very last moment, with about 10 feet left. But of course, I was making a gentle stop at a stop sign a good .2 miles ahead.

 

Bottom line is I was so impressed at how much breaking was done totally by the generator.

[lrymal]

My record, for a 2.5 mile trip from the mall to home was 78.8 MPG!! Almost completely in EV mode!!

I had a very similar experience. Left bank to go to Wally World, about 3 miles. Slight downhill grade, with one block uphill. Two traffic signals. Wally World parking lot. Typically, I'll lose a bit of mileage on this route.

 

Well, wouldn't you know it? The two traffic signals were GREEN, and I was doing city driving typical speed, about 35 mph, all in the EV mode. Did some of the turns on the route kinda hot--no traffic! 45 in a 35, went up the hill, rode the EV gauge, topped the hill at about 25 mph--no one behind me. Crossed over into the Wally World parking lot, going about 10 mph in the parking lot, and then 5 mph due to shoppers. Pulled in a parking spot and saw NINETY THREE mph average.

 

And where was the camera?---where was my Nikon? At home on the shelf where it DOES NOT belong.

 

I'll never have this kind of luck with those two traffic signals again.